JASON HILLS -- Sun Media

The Edmonton Eskimos opened up the vault to quarterback Ricky Ray last month and now they will have a little more money to spend.

The CFL announced they are raising the league salary cap another $150,000, bumping the cap from $4.05-million to $4.2 million.

"We plan to spend right to the cap and we think we'll be able to put together a very competitive team," said Eskimos head coach Danny Maciocia.

"The league over the course of the past few years has done very well and we anticipated the cap to rise this season, we just didn't know by how much.

"People had been talking $50,000 to $100,000, but this will be nice."

The salary cap hike will give the Eskimos an opportunity to re-evaluate their roster and try and shore up in areas they feel they lacked production in for the 2007 season.

Areas of concern heading into the off-season are the Eskimos secondary and the offensive line.

"We are going to use it to evaluate every area of our football team and even with players right now that are on one- and two-year contracts," said Maciocia.

The timing of the salary cap couldn't be better. The Eskimos have called a press conference for 11 a.m. today to announce a player signing. Sources say it is Jason Maas who is returning after playing with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last season.

Talking about additions, 2008 couldn't have started any better for Maciocia.

The Eskimos sideline boss welcomed a new member to his family Jan. 10 when his wife Sandra gave birth to their third daughter Alessia.

"It's the first piece of good new in 2008," said Maciocia yesterday. "It's been a very exciting time for our family, it's been touch and go the past few weeks, but it's been a very exciting time for all of us."